This blog contains posts about all of my letterboxing trips and events I have attended.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

From Wyoming to South Dakota

We wanted an early start this morning so that we could make it to Rapid City at a decent hour tonight. So our day began at 5:00am. After getting everything packed and into the car we were on the road by 5:45am. We left Douglas and headed for Gillette. The drive was beautiful. Rolling hills, green flowing grass and antelope . . . everywhere. When we arrived in Gillette we stopped at the Cam-Plex to look for two letterboxes. With a little effort we found Baqash was in WY by Baqash and Nodding Donkey by sweep. Once I had stamped in and then replaced the boxes we continued on our drive. From Gillette we took I90 and headed east. At Moorcroft we headed north on US14 and headed to our destination for this morning - Devils Tower National Monument. This has been on my bucket list for a long time and I am excited about seeing the tower for the first time. When we got our first glimpse I was awed. Then the view disappeared behind hills. Finally, we arrived at a spot where the entire tower was in view and we were able to get some pictures. Then we continued our drive to the entrance gate and then to the Visitor Center. We parked and stood by the car admiring the magnitude of the tower. Then we made our way into the Visitor Center where I got my cancellation stamps, some postcards & a patch and the Junior Ranger Booklet. A ranger led walking tour around the tower was getting ready to start so we decided to do that. It was about a 40 minute walk where we learned a lot about the tower. We ended up spending about three hours at the monument.

We left Devils Tower and took WY24 through Hulett and Aladdin and arrived at the South Dakota state line. We stopped and took pictures of the sign - this was both Thomas' and my first visit to South Dakota. From here we took SD34 to Belle Fourche. At the Tri-State Museum and Visitor Center we saw the Geographical Center of the Nation Monument. After a few pictures and visiting the museum we left Belle Fourche and drove south on US85 to Spearfish. Our plan for the area was to drive ALT US14 through Spearfish Canyon and visit three waterfalls. First, we stopped at the parking area for Bridal Veil Falls. The falls are across the road from the parking area. We walked over and took some pictures and enjoyed the falling water. Second, we drove to the parking area for Roughlock Falls. We had to take a side road off of US14 for a bout a mile and then take a short walk along a path with multiple observation decks. The path meandered steadily downhill until we found ourselves at the base of the falls. [These falls were my favorite!] Third, we found the parking for the trail to Spearfish Falls. We took the hike down to the base of the falls for a beautiful view. Driving the canyon was beautiful and relaxing and visiting the falls was a perfect addition to the drive. Once we made our way back up to the car we continued our drive and made our way to Deadwood.
Bridal Veil Falls
Roughlock Falls
Spearfish Falls
 Once in Deadwood we made our way to Mt. Moriah Cemetery. Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane are buried here. We were here to see their graves and to find two letterboxes. After a few pictures of the grave stones we went in search of the boxes. We were able to find both - Hello South Dakota from the Grand Canyon State by The Lawrence Brothers and Here in Deadwood by PKmermaid. These were my first boxes found in South Dakota and now I can add this state to my map (Now only have five more to go to have boxed in all 50 states.). While stamping into the second box it started thundering and we felt a few drops of rain. By the time we reached the car there was a steady drizzle.

We decided to call it a day and head to Rapid City to check in to the hotel. Somewhere along the way we saw a sign for a pizza place and decided to get a bite to eat before heading to the hotel - we both felt that if we got to the hotel we wouldn't want to leave again to get some dinner. We finished dinner and made our way to the hotel. We got showered and settled - we need some rest so Thomas can attend his conference in the morning and I can start exploring the area.

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